SF abortion rights measure a 'template' for other cities, advocates say
San Francisco abortion-rights advocates and public officials say they hope a forthcoming ballot measure can serve as an example for U.S. cities seeking to preserve access to reproductive health care.
San Franciscans will vote on Proposition O, otherwise known as the San Francisco Reproductive Freedom Act, in November. If passed with the support of a simple majority of voters, the ordinance would make it policy that The City “serve as a safe and welcoming place for patients seeking reproductive health care” and require public-health officials to maintain a website listing facilities providing abortions, emergency contraception or referrals to such services.
“The message is that we must act locally,” Heidi Sieck, the founder of the national political-engagement platform Vote Pro-Choice, told The Examiner. “We learned that we have to be working up and down the ballot in every single city, state, to enshrine reproductive freedom because we have no constitutional protection.”
Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization case determined there are no constitutional protections for abortion access, about half of the 50 states have at least partially banned the procedure. Fourteen have banned it outright, five have banned it between the first six and 12 weeks of pregnancy, and six have done so between 15 and 22 weeks, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/sf-abortion-rights-bill-authors-aim-to-send-national-message/article_08c0f630-6ef6-11ef-b5ae-9f9fc0434437.html